Elk plots swimming pool escape

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An errant elk has spent all day Thursday trapped inside a private swimming pool on the outskirts of a small western Swedish town. The unfortunate animal accidentally ambled into a pool located in a garden in Oskarström.

Emergency services quickly arranged for the pool to be drained when alerted to the incident at around 6am. But by Thursday afternoon the leggy creature had not yet managed to find a way out of its predicament.

"We built stairs out of wooden pallets to help the elk make its own way up," said Claes Lundström, who headed the morning's rescue operation.

Local police later took over the case and are also hoping to see some initiative from the stranded animal.

"We're planning to give it some peace and quiet," said spokesman Stefan Jarlhage.

Should the elk fail to find an escape route, however, it may eventually be put down.

"It could come to that but we are going to try for as long as we can to get it to make its own way out," said Jarlhage.

The elks problems began when it became entangled in the pool's protective covering, Hallands Nyheter reports.

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